


It's really a hanukkah card

by genrerebel



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Artist Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Captain America Steve Rogers/Modern Bucky Barnes, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Not Beta Read, Sparring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:07:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21795829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genrerebel/pseuds/genrerebel
Summary: Steve Roger's receives a Christmas card the first year out of the ice. It hits him square in the gut and he decides to find the man who wrote it. He had no idea that man was only a few floors below him.
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 26
Kudos: 223





	1. Coffee can't quench his thirst

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fanfic, be nice please

He looked at the card in his hand. It was one of the many that came in the bag that was dropped off twice a month to his room in the tower. It was also a Christmas card. He sunk down to the couch, the card still in his hand. It was his first Christmas since the defrosting, his first Christmas since he woke up in this new century, unsure of everything and everyone around him. He knew deep down that his new team at the very least respected him, perhaps thought kindly of him, one or two of them might care for him. But not one of them had mentioned Christmas. Or sent a card. He hadn’t even looked at the calendar lately, had no idea it has gotten to be that close. The world outside was still clear of snow and any other signs of the holidays had slipped his notice. He didn’t go outside much anyway.

The only time he really left his rooms was when he visited Peggy or if there was a mission. Otherwise he took advantage of a warm building, a soft couch and some really excellent art supplies. The spare room in his apartment was full of drawing pads and canvases. He’d been drawing his old life for weeks now, and it was helping with the transition. Or, he hoped it was. Tony or Nat might say he needed to let go, move forward, but they didn’t understand the magnitude of what he went through. No one did.

He pulled himself out of his own head to open the card. The envelope was nice, sturdy, as was the card inside. He huffed out a laugh when he saw his shield with a Santa hat, all embossed and shiny. The laugh died when he opened the card and on the inside was scratchy handwriting.

‘You saved my life during the invasion. Mine and my sister’s. I wanted to thank you, but you’re not an easy man to get an audience with. I hope when you get this it finds you well. You’ve been through shit, so maybe that’s not an option yet, but it’s my hope for you.  
Happy Hanukkah.  
(they don’t have Hanukkah cards with your shield on them)  
Bucky Barnes, retired Sargent’

His hands where shaking when he finished. It was so simple a thing, and it hit him so hard. A man who probably understood coming home from war, and a man who clearly knew that Steve maybe wasn’t as alright as he told people he was. Before he knew what he was doing, he called out for Jarvis.

“J, is there any way for you to find a way for me to contact a Sargent Bucky Barnes?” He couldn’t help but laugh about the name, it was a tad bit silly, but he liked it.

“It appears there is a James Buchanan Barnes who is part of the new prosthetic trial sir is conducting. He was a Sargent when he got a medical discharge due to losing his left arm.”

Buchanan, it made sense that Bucky was a nickname. But what does he do now? Does he make contact? Is that what Bucky would want? He just wasn’t sure. He briefly considered asking Nat but thought better. She’d tease him about it and then he’d have to start telling truths he wasn’t sure he was ready to share yet.

“J, when will Mr. Barnes be in the Tower next?”

“He is here now Captain Rogers. 27th floor.”

Steve jumped and headed straight for the elevator, card still in his hand. He wanted to meet this guy who had all but reached into his heart and squeezed it. The whole ride down he went back and forth about what he would say, how much truth he’d give to this man. Nothing he considered in the elevator prepared him for what he actually saw when the doors slid open into one of Tony’s labs. Not the main one, the secret one, but a lower level R&D near the med floor.

Tony had the music loud, so he didn’t turn when the doors opened, but the absolutely gorgeous guy on the reclined chair looked up and his grey blue eyes caught with Steve’s and without input from his mind, his mouth went “wow.” The guy must lip read because he smirked and Steve could feel his cheeks flush with embarrassment. The card got crumpled in his hand.

“Hey Iron Man, you got company.” Steve listen to the drawl that made him homesick and watched as Tony lifted his head from where he’d been bent over a truly impressive piece of tech. That upon closer inspection was an arm. Steve moved closer, the artist in him wishing for a piece of paper and a pencil.

“Sup Capsicle? You here to ogle my work? It is impressive.” 

“I was actually hoping to speak to Sargent Barnes when he had a moment.” Steve fought down the blush as Bucky smiled up at him.

“And how do you know my test subject?” Tony was glaring at him and Steve hated being put on the spot and his couldn’t think of a solid reason to give Tony, except ‘oh this guy surprised me with a card and now I want to know him’ luckily, Bucky spoke.

“Way back. Didn’t you know Tony? I’m from the 40’s too!” Tony looked at Bucky like he might not be talking out his ass, but Steve couldn’t stop the laugh, the idea that he maybe wasn’t alone, that brought on hope and a laugh. Tony was gearing up for some long, no doubt confusing, diatribe though, so Steve stepped in.

“He’s one of the civilians I saved during the invasion. I heard he was here and just wanted to check in.”

“Oh. Makes sense, I guess. Well, he’s done for today anyway. Get out of my hair the both of you.”

Steve watched as Bucky pulled his shirt back down his left arm and hopped off the chair. He stalked toward Steve, and that was certainly what it was. It wasn’t walking, more like a strut, a murder strut, because Steve could see him doing it bogged down with a rifle in uniform.

“Captain.” The dark man purred. And Steve had to remember all the years he’s been hiding that particular secret and the reasons for it.

“Sargent. I thought we could talk.”

“Sure thing. Your place?” No way Steve could do that, too much temptation and he really did just want to talk.

“How about the café on the 2nd floor. I’ll buy you a coffee."

“It’s a date.” Bucky chirped and Steve heard Tony’s gasp as he turned his rolling chair to stare at them as they walked toward the elevator. Well, that was the cat out of the bag, the second he didn’t correct the Sargent, he knew Tony had known. The elevator ride down was quiet and a tad tense, but Steve could handle it, he could. He clenched his fists before straightening his hands.

He showed Bucky to the café and a seat, before ordering two coffees and two different kinds of muffins. The girl at the counter smiled at him, and then when she saw Bucky behind him, her smile turned into a huge grin.

“Bout time Captain. He’s hot.” Steve couldn’t stop the blush and he quietly thanked her. He knew it was okay now. He did. He just hadn’t made any steps to let the people in his life, his team, know. Too used to it being illegal. Too used to being afraid for his life. He brought the coffees and muffins to the table and found Bucky staring in a new way.

“I am sorry. I figure, when you’re from, even innocent flirting was dangerous. You can tell Tony I didn’t mean anything by it. Hell, I’ll tell him.”

“It’s okay. I’m used to the teasing. Even if I had said something when you made the joke, I still would get the teasing. Plus, at least one of my team has already walked by and saw us here, so they’ll draw their own conclusions.”

Bucky looked out the window and Steve sighed. Possible this guy was just a groupie and Steve had been his in. That would be disappointing for sure.

“I didn’t see any of them.”

“Nat likes to practice her spycraft. Pale blue bob, big cat’s eye sunglasses, wrap dress. She’s been by twice.”

“Your team keeps tabs on you? They don’t trust you?”

“My team hardly knows me, but yes they keep tabs on me. Fury thought I might be a flight risk after I defrosted. I kept telling him I won’t work for Sheild, he assumes this means I might be suicidal.”

“The dropping a plane into the ocean wasn’t a clue?” Steve barked out a laugh, surprised as hell. Gallows humor was normal for him, but no one else seemed to understand that. They all did their best not to mention the Valkyrie.

“I would assume they all believe it was my only option. That wouldn’t speak to suicide then.”

“Was it your only option? Could you not have jumped? You would have survived.” Steve thought on it, really thought on it. He’d never thought himself suicidal, but really when he’d been flying toward the ocean he’d been tired. He’d wanted a break from death and disease and he knew it was the right thing to do, that plane would have killed thousands. Hundreds of thousands.

“At the time I believed it was the only option.” He wasn’t lying, he just was maybe not saying everything. It was how he lived now. He shook his head, this was not why he wanted to talk to Bucky.

“I wanted to say thank you for the card.”

“Thank you for saving me and Becs. We were on our way here for the first connection of the arm when the sky opened. That appointment had been on the books for months, since the surgery to add the docking on my shoulder. So coming of the train to see aliens was a shock.”

“And how is your sister now?” He had more questions, all of them about Bucky and why he’d flirted, if he was a groupie, if he was single, but his sister was safer.

“Becs is good. Back at NYU, getting her law degree, ready to take on the world.”

“When you speak to her next, tell her I’m glad she’s okay. It helps knowing that we saved people that day. It was a shitshow from start to finish.” He saw Bucky’s eyes widen at that, but surely, he couldn’t believe that an Army man never swore. Or never thought missions were shit.

“I don’t remember much of it, shock my therapist says. But from what I do remember, yeah, it was shitty. And I thought Afghanistan was bad.” More questions he didn’t feel right asking. He was holding the guy up though, he’d said what he wanted to say and he should move on, go back to his rooms. Even though they suddenly seemed very empty. He was about to say goodbye, when a noise alerted him. Both he and Bucky went into a defensive posture when Clint dropped down from the ceiling, leaving a tile clanging to the floor.

“Clint! What the hell?”

“Clint?” Bucky asked, hands still fisted.

“Hawkeye. Clint is Hawkeye and he’s about to get KP duty if he doesn’t explain why he was spying on us in the fucking ceiling.”

“Hello man with a shiny arm. Hello Cap. Tash told me you were on a date and I didn’t believe her, so I bet her twenty she was mistaken, but then I saw that sweet metal arm and if that is one of Stark’s well, he’s been bragging about what it can do, and then there was a rat, we should really talk to Tony about that.."

“Clint. Stop.” Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. “Tell Nat she owes you. Not a date. We were just talking.”

“What do you mean Stark’s been bragging about the arm?” Bucky butts in, his face looking annoyed, and still staring at Steve. Maybe he’d really wanted a date?

“He got drunk the other night and told me and Bruce all about how the prosthetics were stronger than he’d anticipated, but how cool it would be for soldiers who got them to be able to like, lift a car.”

Bucky stared at Steve and a grin split across his face. “Lift a car?”

“Punch through a wall, possibly kill a man with one hit.” Clint was still counting off things on his fingers.

“We should talk to Stark. That doesn’t sound right at all.” Steve turned to Bucky, trying to parse out what he was feeling. Sad their talk had ended, nervous because he was feeling something he hadn’t in a long time, and unsure because he still didn’t really know his motives.

“I’m coming with you. I kinda want to know if I have a weapon of mass destruction on my body.”

“Your thighs.” Clint murmured, staring at Bucky. Steve had a sudden rush of jealousy, because Bucky was his friend. He’d met him, and yeah his thighs were killer, he’d already imagined Bucky doing Nat’s thigh’s around the neck trick and Clint didn’t have any right looking at Bucky like that, not when he had Nat. He didn’t say any of that though.

“Well, glad to know all my time in the gym is paying off.” He winked at Clint, who mimed fainting.

“Right. To Tony’s to find out what’s going on” he was brusque, he knew that, but Clint had annoyed him.

The ride up to Tony’s workshop was tenser with Clint there. Steve wanted to get in between the two men but Clint kept looking at Steve like he could read inside him and that was worrying.

“To what do I owe the displeasure of you back in my lab?’ Tony called out when the doors slid open.

“What’s this I hear about being able to kill a man with one punch with this arm?” Bucky started, which was good because Steve was still watching the murder strut and his mouth had gone slightly dry.

“You’re drooling.” Clint whispered in his ear. “Wasn’t a date, huh? You wanted it to be though. It’s cool. He’s smoking hot.” Steve stole every once of willpower he had not to punch his teammate in the face.

He turned back to Tony and Bucky, only to hear Tony going on with glee. “..yeah, it’s crazy strong. Probably be able to go up against Capsicle. Ohhh, yes. We should do that. Testing. For science.” Before Steve could tell Tony no, Bucky piped up, a gleam in his eyes.

“I’m down to go a few rounds with you Steve.”

“You get to call him Steve?” Clint asked, but Steve was still stuck on how his name sounded from Bucky’s lips. Yeah, he definitely had a crush, he wasn’t going to be able to hide it much longer. He was never good at talking or being around people he had a crush on.

“Clint, I’ve told you to call me Steve since we met. You refuse to. You all refuse to.” Clint looked gobsmacked.

“Ohhh. I didn’t think you meant it. Steve. Huhh, Steve. I like it. C’mon Steve. Grab the shield, I kinda want to watch it.”

Steve looked at the three men. Clint looked excited, Tony looked manic and Bucky, well Steve couldn’t quite read Bucky. But possibly sparring for a few rounds might help him know the other man better. Might help him understand his motives. He hasn’t been able to really figure it out. He doesn’t think he’s a groupie, and surely Tony had an excellent vetting process for the arm, so Bucky was probably okay. And well, Steve wanted to show off a bit. Put on some shorts and tight tank top and throw the shield around. He could take a punch. He could see if the arm is as deadly as it is beautiful. He took a breath, let it out and smiled a the three of them.

“Sure, let me get my shield. Meet you in the gym?”

“See you there, sweetheart.” Bucky said, making both Tony and Clint giggle like teenage girls.


	2. Fighting as foreplay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Cap considers his type, whether he should convert, and what is says about him that violence turns him on.

It only took him ten minutes to run up the flights of stairs to get his shield and then hop on the elevator down to the gym floor. The whole time he was telling himself that it was silly to crush on a guy he’d said maybe three sentences to, but there was the eyes and the thighs and the cleft in his chin. Plus, it had been decades asleep since he’d last felt any sort of attraction. There was a fair few things about Bucky that reminded Steve of Peggy, dark hair, beautiful eyes, possibly deadly; he definitely had a type. 

And when he stepped off the elevator and headed into the gym only to see Bucky doing stretches in an Iron Man tank top and shorts he’d borrowed, probably from Clint, well, he knew he wasn’t getting over his crush any time soon.

Bucky straightened up and smiled at Steve with a glint in his eye and Steve swallowed hard before stepping onto the sparring mats.

“Best 2 out of 3,” Bucky asked, and Steve just nodded. This close he could see the muscles in his right arm and that the prosthetic was modeled after it intricately. He could also see the scars around his left shoulder and that rage that had been inside him his whole life reared up. Bucky had been hurt and Steve wanted to find the men who did it and hurt them back. He had to stuff that all down though, because he couldn’t exactly go out to Afghanistan and hurt people indiscriminately, plus, Tony and Clint were both watching him.

“Cap, I’m recording this, so don’t hold back. Need the stats for science remember!” Tony shouted from where he sat cross-legged against the wall. Clint was perched on one of the rafters and Steve had to hold back a laugh at how ridiculous this all was.

“Get it Cap!” Clint shouted.

Steve rolled his neck and his shoulders, trying to loosen all the tension that had settled on him just from being near Bucky like this. He tightened the straps of the shield and crouched. Ready. He remembered Bucky’s parting shot in the lab and grinned.

“Any time sweetheart.” Steve loved the feral grin that slid across Bucky’s face before he launched himself.

Bucky was clearly trained and not just in normal boxing. He moved like Clint and Natasha so Steve corrected his own movements. It was hard to pin the younger man and Steve found himself laughing as they hit and ducked and weaved around each other. The first time the left fist hit the shield it reverberated along Steve’s arm, making him pause long enough for Bucky to get his legs around Steve and bring him down.

“Shit Cap, that’s 1 to Bucky-bear!” Steve pulled himself off the mats to Clint’s exclamation. He saw Tony making notes on his tablet, the genius was obviously getting what he needed. If only Tony knew that Steve was also getting what he needed; a fair fight.

“Ready to go again Steve?” Bucky all but purred his name again and Steve was wishing he’d put on a cup before he started this because if the gorgeous man kept talking to him like he was going to start pitching a tent in his shorts.

“Ready sweetheart.” He heard the coo behind him, but he focused on the man in front of him. This time he made the first move. Instead of hitting out, he swung his shield, hoping to cut Bucky off at the knees. Instead he stood there still as the man caught it in his left hand. The silver metal gripping the vibranium shield like it was made of plastic.

“Holy shit.” Tony swore.

“God damn.” Steve heard Clint whisper.

“Well fuck me,” Steve breathed out, the situation in his shorts becoming a real problem. That was damn hot, there was always something about a seriously competent person that turned Steve on like nothing else.

“Sure thing sweetheart, let’s grab a shower first.” 

In the background he heard Tony and Clint laughing, but he was totally focused on the man before him. The man, who, it seemed wasn’t joking. Steve took a step forward. Bucky lowered the arm holding the shield and nodded. Steve moved like lightning. In two seconds the shield was clanging on the floor while Steve scooped Bucky up with hands under his ass. Bucky helped, jumping into Steve’s arms and locking his legs around Steve’s waist. Steve was walking toward the door before the guys behind him fully understood.

Tony was sputtering and Clint was so shocked he actually fell off the rafter. “What…I mean…Cap?” 

Steve wasn’t listening though. No, he had Bucky’s lips on his throat, and he was hoping he’d make it to his floor before he broke down and defiled the next wall he saw.

***

Two hours later Bucky slumped over Steve’s back and let out a sigh, then a giggle. Steve rolled, making Bucky yelp as he settled the smaller man on his chest.

“What’s so funny? Huh, sweetheart?”

“Happy fucking Hanukkah to me.” Bucky broke down into a heavy laugh and all Steve could do was huff out a laugh with him. Happy Hanukkah indeed. Maybe he should convert if this was what being Jewish got him.

Steve was just about sleep with the comforting weight of Bucky already snoring into his shoulder when Jarvis cleared his throat the only way the AI could.

“Captain Rogers, sir has a message for you.” Steve waved a hand for the AI to go on.

“ROGERS WE DIDN’T GET ENOUGH DATA. ALSO, GET SOME!” Tony's voice rang out, manic like always.

Steve rolled his eyes and snuggled closer to Bucky. More data could wait.


End file.
